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Today I went with my sister and her 5 year daughter Amy to tour a local private school. It has Pre-K to 5th grade and we were looking to get Amy started in Kindergarten this year. The campus had a woodlands / park like grounds with 2 pools, a mini farm, and lots of sandlots with jungle gym and slides. We met the school director and a few teachers. The rooms are modern with smart boards, iPads and laptops in every room. The teachers were friendly and very helpful. The tuition is a bit over 11,000 per year. Wow. Thank goodness she only has one kid!

Shane and I are spending time in Texas right now visiting his mom and dad. They live in little farming town called Beeville. Shane’s parents run a farm where they grow all kinds of vegetables and raise chickens, pigs and cows. They have an old farmhouse with high ceilings, big rooms, and their own water well. A few days ago Shane took me for ride on the tractor to go rescue a cow whose head got stuck in an electrified fence. It was mooing and wailing pretty loud so we could hear it from a good distance. Shane turned the power off for the fence and brought some cable cutters to free the cow. Me being a city girl, I learned that when you raise cows, you gotta watch where you step, boots are pretty much mandatory unless you want to lose a shoe to a big heap of cow manure.

I try to supplement my wardrobe with natural and organic clothing, but I don’t really favor the dark burlap bag appearance that is common to some eco clothing. I want colorful pretty clothes without harsh chemical dyes but I’m not a purist when it comes to my eco fashion choices. I will choose colorful clothing combined with eco fabrics for a good compromise.

I was searching for some companies that sell organic cotton clothing for women when I found this wonderful company in the UK called People Tree. They make pretty, colorful ,organic and fair trade clothing that really fits my style. I bought this sundress and several pretty tops from them and I LOVE them!

Our dog “Rally” is 1 1/2 years old and he is FINALLY, almost a good boy. He’s 95% potty trained, mostly done chewing shoes, toys, and furniture. I took him to an obedience training course for about 10 sessions. It really worked, we can walk him on leash without being pulled into traffic, he doesn’t jump up on people, and he doesn’t beg everyone for food at dinner time. Much. If you have or get a puppy / dog that is wild, noisy, and destructive you might try dog training classes for you and your dog. You need to keep at it and be consistent with your efforts for an extended period, but it’s worth the effort. We are now working on the whining and barking that goes on when we leave for work. The trainer told me Rally might need another dog friend to stay home with him. All I can see is TWO dogs yapping incessantly in the back yard until we get home. Oh yeah, and twice the doggie doo to pick up. I already have a baby in diapers to clean up after. No more dogs. This one is going to have to learn to be a good family member.

Shane and I took Kat to grandma’s house for a visit. Grandma has a nice pool that has good sun exposure and the water temperature is comfortable. Grandma and I grilled some hot dogs, veggie burgers and chicken while Shane took Kat for some pool playtime. Apparently, Kat loves the water.Grandma, ever conscious of the dangers of too much sun exposure, insisted that we slather up baby Katrina with high SPF sunblock before going outside . Shane and I like to avoid chemicals on our bodies or on the baby so we actually had to wait to go to grandma’s house until we could find a natural or organic sun block for babies. I searched around online and ordered Elemental Herbs Kids Sunscreen. The ingredients list is all natural and I can actually read and pronounce all of them. We had Kat in and out of the pool for a few hours and she didn’t get any burn or color at all.

Filing this as “this is what happens when you have only one child.” Everyone spoils Kat. She gets spoiled by everyone to the point that she gets gifts like this. An electric powered toy 4 wheeler. It’s her dad’s idea that she should have the same toys that HE likes. Kat loves it too, but it’s way too big for her and she’s been taking some falls while climbing off and on. We now need pads and helmet just to play on this toy. And you know what? Somebody in the family will get those for her because she’s the only child and everyone wants to spoil her rotten. Mission accomplished.

It’s been a long expensive haul, but Shane finally graduated with his Master’s degree in Music from Cal State Long Beach. We took him to out to a local beach side bar and grill and ordered up a pitcher of Margaritas along with some buffalo wings and burgers. Shane would like you think he’s a big time rock and roll hero who can drink a whole pitcher by himself. In reality, he’s been practicing so much for his recitals that he hasn’t worked out in forever. His arm could barely lift the pitcher and all he got was a tiny sip. All kidding aside, congratulations Shane! You’ve earned it. Now go out start doing gigs and making music to pay back those student loans!